1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a column shift device for an automatic transmission of a vehicle such as an automobile, and particularly, to an improvement in a column shift device for an automatic transmission of an automobile, including a bracket mounted to a steering column, a shift piece on which a shift lever is supported, a pivot secured to one of the bracket and the shift piece, and a support bore provided in the other of the bracket and the shift piece, the pivot being rotatably fitted in the support bore, so that the shift piece can be turned about the pivot to any of a plurality of shift positions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a column shift device is already known, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.5-42841. In such column shift device, the shift piece bearing the weight and shifting force of the shift lever is cantilever-supported on the bracket through the pivot. Therefore, in order to stabilize the supporting of the shift piece, the pivot in the known device is formed of a large diameter and a large length, and the supporting area for the pivot is set as large as possible.
However, the formation of the pivot at a large length brings about an increase in size of the shift device, making it difficult to place the shift device in a narrow space in front of a steering wheel of an automobile.